Monday, March 20th, 2017 at 8:36am

WASHINGTON – FBI Director James B. Comey and National Security Agency head Michael S. Rogers are set to testify on Monday on the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and they will also face questions about possible collusion between associates of President Donald Trump and the Kremlin.

The hearing before the House Intelligence Committee comes amid the controversy fired up by Trump two weeks ago when he tweeted, without providing evidence, that President Obama ordered his phones tapped at Trump Tower.

Comey is expected publicly to debunk that allegation, according to the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., following a parade of current and former senior officials who have said there is no evidence of wiretaps on Trump or Trump Tower.

Comey privately told lawmakers last week that there was no basis to the charge.

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Just hours before the start of the hearing, Trump posted a series of tweets claiming Democrats “made up” the allegations of Russian contacts in an attempt to discredit the GOP during the presidential campaign. Trump also urged federal investigators to shift their focus to probe disclosures of classified material.

“The real story that Congress, the FBI and all others should be looking into is the leaking of Classified information,” Trump wrote early Monday. “Must find leaker now!”

On Sunday, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who served on Trump’s transition team, also countered the president’s assertion. “Was there a physical wiretap of Trump Tower? No, but there never was . . .,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”

The FBI has been conducting a wide-ranging counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s covert role in the election. As part of that, the bureau has been exploring potential links between Trump associates and Moscow, but Comey has never publicly acknowledged that. His reticence has annoyed lawmakers from both parties, and leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee have threatened to hold up the confirmation of the deputy attorney general until he briefs the committee on the matter.

The FBI probe combines an investigation into hacking operations by Russian spy agencies with efforts to understand how the Kremlin sought to manipulate public opinion and influence the election’s outcome.

In January, the intelligence community released a report concluding that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to not only undermine the legitimacy of the election process but also harm the campaign of Hillary Clinton and boost Trump’s chances of winning.

Hackers working for Russian spy agencies penetrated the computers of the Democratic National Committee in 2015 and 2016 as well as the email accounts of Democratic officials, intelligence official said in the report. The material was relayed to WikiLeaks, the officials said, and the anti-secrecy group began a series of damaging email releases just before the Democratic National Convention that continued through the fall.

“For a lot of Americans this is the first time to really tune in to exactly what the Russians did and what the investigation involves, and I’d like to walk through with both directors what do we know about the Russian operation? What was its breadth?” said Schiff, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Beyond the hacking and dumping of documents, he said, a key issue is “were there U.S. persons that were helping the Russians in any way? Was there any form of collusion?”

On Friday, the Justice Department delivered documents to the committee in response to a request for copies of intelligence and criminal wiretap orders and applications. Nunes said the material provided “no evidence of collusion” to sway the election toward Trump and repeated previous statements that there is no credible proof of any active coordination.

But Schiff said there was “circumstantial evidence of collusion” at the outset of the congressional investigations into purported Russian election meddling, as well as “direct evidence” that Trump campaign figures sought to deceive the public about their interactions with Russian figures.

The concerns about Moscow’s meddling are also being felt in Europe, where France and Germany hold elections this year. “Our allies,” Schiff said, “are facing the same Russian onslaught.”

Comey will be limited in what he can publicly say about the issue of collusion, Schiff acknowledged. “But there is a lot he can tell us about the Russian motivations for their intervention in our elections, how the Russians operate in Europe, what techniques they use and what we should be on the lookout for our investigation,” he said.